Film show report - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

PaulM · 23rd May 2023, 8:31 am

Last week we had a film show at our Broadcast Engineering Museum near Gainsborough. It was the first time that we had done such a thing and it was a public event. What made it special was that it was a commemorative screening of 'The Dam Busters' on the former air base where much of the film was shot (RAF Hemswell).

It would have been good to use 35 mm film, but we don't have a cinema projector, so that bit was 'ordinary' using a powerful Digital Projection Titan Quad 3 chip DLP projector. However, the sound system was definitely vintage using a pair of Marconi Lockwood Tannoy Monitor Gold units driven by Leak valve amplifiers. This was after testing a couple of modernish rigs and finding that the Monitor Golds out performed them. The bass of the Merlin engines was stunning and the speech clarity excellent.

We thus had an 80th anniversary of an event depicted in a film nearly 70 years old and a speaker system of 60 years age. Only the projector was modern.

The event was a great success and seemed to be much enjoyed. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster bomber flew over us just before the start of the film to set the scene. It was a sell-out audience in our newly decorated Studio 2 which doubles as an event space and auditorium.

We will probably do more film shows - it was a lot of work but great fun.

Best regards,

Paul M
Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group (BECG)
www.becg.tv

23rd May 2023, 8:31 am	#1
PaulM Hexode Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Near Lincoln, UK. Posts: 483	Film show report Last week we had a film show at our Broadcast Engineering Museum near Gainsborough. It was the first time that we had done such a thing and it was a public event. What made it special was that it was a commemorative screening of 'The Dam Busters' on the former air base where much of the film was shot (RAF Hemswell). It would have been good to use 35 mm film, but we don't have a cinema projector, so that bit was 'ordinary' using a powerful Digital Projection Titan Quad 3 chip DLP projector. However, the sound system was definitely vintage using a pair of Marconi Lockwood Tannoy Monitor Gold units driven by Leak valve amplifiers. This was after testing a couple of modernish rigs and finding that the Monitor Golds out performed them. The bass of the Merlin engines was stunning and the speech clarity excellent. We thus had an 80th anniversary of an event depicted in a film nearly 70 years old and a speaker system of 60 years age. Only the projector was modern. The event was a great success and seemed to be much enjoyed. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster bomber flew over us just before the start of the film to set the scene. It was a sell-out audience in our newly decorated Studio 2 which doubles as an event space and auditorium. We will probably do more film shows - it was a lot of work but great fun. Best regards, Paul M Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group (BECG) www.becg.tv Attached Thumbnails